The Iranian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a pastor convicted of apostasy and accused of evangelizing Muslims. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, has been in prison since October 2009, and the appeal of his death sentence was rejected by the Iranian Supreme Court on June 28, 2011. He is to be executed by hanging. If the death sentence is carried out, it will be the first court-ordered execution of a Christian in Iran in 20 years.

“At this time, there is no more action that can be done inside of Iran to overturn this sentence,” a VOM contact said. “It can be carried out at any time. The only options right now are to immediately and swiftly bring international attention to the issue.”

Nadarkhani, a pastor from Rasht, about 750 miles northwest of Tehran, was arrested in October 2009 after he protested a government policy that required children, including his 8- and 9-year-old sons, to study the Quran in school. Nadarkhani told school officials that the Iranian constitution allows for freedom of religious practice. As a result of his protest, secret police called him before a political tribunal and arrested him for protesting. The charges were later amended to apostasy and evangelism of Muslims. Nadarkhani was tried on Sept. 21–22, 2010, by the 1st Court of the Revolutionary Tribunal and sentenced to death on Nov. 13 for apostasy.

Nadarkhani is imprisoned in Lakan prison, where authorities have used various methods, including medication, to convert him back to Islam, according to Present Truth Ministries. After Nadarkhani refused to convert to Islam, his wife was arrested, put on trial without an attorney and sentenced to life in prison. She was later released after an attorney appealed her sentence. The Nadarkhanis’ children were cared for by a relative while they were both in prison.

Please lift up Pastor Nadarkhani urgently before the Lord and ask for his release. Go to his profile on www.prisoneralert.com to email government officials on his behalf.

June 29, 2011

“In 1996, our daughter Sophia had a long seizure causing permanent brain damage. She suffered badly for months, crying incessantly for two or three days at a time and writhing in pain. She did not know us or respond to us.

One nurse could not understand why we were not angry with God for allowing this to happen. I tried to help her see that we are his servants and cannot deny the tremendous gift that God had given us in his Son. Four months after her seizure, Sophia died.

“The day she died, I saw a picture from a The Voice of the Martyrs article of a Sudanese sister whose breasts had been cut off sitting next to her infant. Her persecutors tortured her by doing this horrible thing, forcing her to watch her child die of starvation. Thousands of miles away from where she was, I knew her pain, and I wept, thinking, I will not allow myself to wallow in self-pity.

“That woman and others like her did not have the benefit of medical care, fellowship, and love from brethren that we had. Yet they have endured so much, and I, by the grace of God, can also endure it.

“I need these living epistles of the Lord Jesus Christ to express the reality that Jesus lives and this world is not my home.”

While God’s presence is always near through the person of the Holy Spirit, we often need those spiritual encouragers with skin on them to help us in our faith. Martyrs and other believers throughout the centuries are real people whose real examples of courage inspire us to believe that maybe, just maybe, we may be able to respond likewise. While we may not share in their exact adversities, we can adopt the spirit of their tenacity and bravery for our daily lives. If you have been inspired by an extreme story of faith, share it with others. Pass along the example. Teach others to draw strength from those who have gone before, living their faith as examples to all.

**This devotion is from the book Extreme Devotion. To buy a copy of this book and to share it with your friends, please visit http://www.vombooks.com

June 28, 2011

This video is about a month old, (not sure how I missed this), and I really want you to watch it because you'll see numerous photos of Christians who have been imprisoned and have suffered greatly for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Please also spend time in prayer today for Christians in Iran. CBN News reported:

Elam Ministries, an organization that serves Christians in Iran, reports 285 believers in 35 cities have been arrested in the past six months.

Many of those Christians who were detained spent weeks and even months in prison, often serving long stretches in solitary confinement. They also endured interrogations and psychological abuse.

Our friends at Compass Direct are reporting more bad news coming out of Egypt as two antiChristian events have broken the relative calm in recent days. Here's more from Compass Direct:

JERUSALEM, June 27 (CDN) — Enraged Muslims burned down several Christian-owned homes, surrounded a church and threatened to kill a priest last week in two unrelated incidents in Upper Egypt.

On Saturday (June 25) in Awlad Khalaf village, just outside Sohag, 240 miles (386 kilometers) south of Cairo, local Muslims attacked Coptic Christian Wahib Halim Atteyah, robbed him of 32,000 Saudi Riyals (US$8,530), and bulldozed his home along with the other structures on his property, according to local media. The group then raided six other Coptic-owned homes and burned them to the ground. Most of the stolen items were returned because of efforts of other Muslims in the area, according to Egyptian newspaper Watani.

Villagers had begun circulating a rumor that Atteyah was constructing a church building on his property. Atteyah was reportedly building a house but also built a barn and a livestock facility in violation of a permit that allowed him to build on 95 square meters of land.

Atteyah and another Coptic Christian, Ihab Na’eem, were later arrested. Reports of the specific charges varied, but all said they had to do with the Christians allegedly repelling the attack with firearms, a charge Atteyah said was untrue. Two Muslims accused of setting houses on fire also have been arrested.

At least five Muslims and one Copt were reportedly injured in the attack. Security forces have been deployed to protect the remaining Coptic homes in the area.

It's Tuesday, which means it's time to let you know how you can minister to one of our highlighted prisoners.

Last week we asked you to write Imran Ghafur and I'm happy to report that we started at 3204 and as of today there have been 3263 letters written, which means that 59 more letters have been written to Imran! Praise the Lord for your obedience to write and stand with persecuted brethren.

This week let's take some time to pray for and write Pastor Y Wo Nie who has been in prison for 2505 days, in Vietnam for leading a demonstration asking for more religious freedom.

Pastor Nie's wife wrote the following letter:

"Our family situation is very difficult. I don't have a job; some days I work as a day laborer and some days I'm unemployed. My youngest son is sickly."

She recently visited her husband in prison, thanks to VOM donors. Her husband is ill. She said, "I’m worried for my husband but God gives me His comfort that He is always with us though we have to face sickness or hard situations; He will help me to overcome my hard times."

Please take a few minutes of your day today to pray for this precious family, and to then take action and write Pastor Nie. He is serving a nine year sentence.

June 27, 2011

One of the best things we can do, and also the most powerful thing we can do, is pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, I want to ask you to pray for 14-year-old Nancy Magdy Fathy, and her 16-year old cousin Christine Ezzat Fathy who have recently disappeared and reportedly converted to Islam.

According to The Assyrian International News Agency, the two girls story was brought to light after they disappeared while they were on their way to church on June 12th.

Here's more from The Assyrian International News Agency:

Nearly two weeks after they disappeared, Nancy and Christine were found in Cairo wearing Burkas. They were incidentally stopped in the street by a police officer when he noticed that one of them had a cross tattooed on her wrist, as many Copts have. The girls told the policeman they converted to Islam and did not marry any Muslims sheikh as the newspapers said, but fearing the wrath of their parents, they sought shelter at the home of a Muslim man. He issued a report of the incident and let them go.

Nancy and Christine subsequently surrendered at a Cairo police station.

An investigation into their disappearance was launched, as their parents accused two Muslim brothers from a neighboring village of abducting them. They were also asked about the video clip which appeared on the Internet, taken in Tahrir Square, where Nancy and Christine allegedly converted to Islam.

According to the investigators, the Christian minors said they converted to Islam of their own free will, and refused to return to their families, and even applied for protection from them. The prosecution decided to put them in a state care home and provide protection for them, until the completion of the investigation. Authorities also wanted an Al-Azhar scholar to determine if they really believe in Islam.

This has angered their families, who said their girls are minors and should not be subjected to such procedures. Both families and the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights Organization protested on Saturday, June 25 in front of the office of the prosecutor general, and demanded for their children to be returned to them.

Click here for more of this story. Please pray today for these girls, that the truth would be revealed and that they would be able to go back home and serve Christ if indeed, they really have been forced into this Muslim conversion.

Al Azhar and the Fatwa (religious edict) Committee denied that the two Coptic teenagers had converted to Islam, because they are still minors and have not yet reached 18 years of age, as is required by law.

A few days ago, our friends at Mission Network News, wrote a story that gives us an update about the reality of what is really happening concerning religious freedom in Afghanistan.

Now that President Obama plans on bringing home 30,000 troops from Afghanistan in the next 15 months, Todd Nettleton from The Voice of the Martyrs told Mission Network News,

"There is not a great deal of confidence in the Afghan security forces to protect religious freedom."

Although President Obama declared that ‘the tide of war is receding,' pulling out while the Taliban is still alive and well can only bring trouble. The U.S. scenario bears a resemblance to Russia's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.

At that time, a believer told Nettleton that their struggle was just beginning. "'The Taliban has shaved their beards, and they've taken off their black turbans, but they're still here.'" Unopposed, there are concerns that the Taliban will quickly grow back to full strength.

Nettleton hopes that threat won't materialize for today's Christians, who make up just 1/100 of one percent of the population. However, "There is all likelihood that there will continue to be persecution of Christians; there will continue to be Christians who will be laying down their lives because of their faith."

Humanitarian groups worry that the drawdown will bring civil war, religious persecution, and increased terrorism. Left unchecked, the Taliban could declare open war on Christians.

Nettleton says, "Their interpretation of being a devout Muslim means that they should attack Christians, that a person who leaves Islam is an apostate and deserves to be killed."

On this beautiful Monday, I'd like to share with you another wonderful offering from the book Extreme Devotion. In fact, if you haven't yet bought a copy of this book, The Voice of the Martyrs sells it as a set of three, so you can give a few copies away. Click here to buy yours today.

“Why do you put your children at risk?” asked one of the three Egyptian officers.

“Ahmed” had been arrested many times for sharing his faith and for giving out Christian literature. But he saw each interrogation as a chance to witness for Christ.

“The security of my children does not come from me,” he told the officers calmly. “It comes from God.”

“Why aren’t you willing to obey the government?” asked the lead officer.

“I won’t stop sharing about Jesus, because he is the Way of Truth,” Ahmed said. “Jesus has changed my heart.”

The officers questioned him about Christian literature that had been secretly printed. They also asked about specific Christians and their activities. Both times, Ahmed remained silent.

“I told them nothing,” he said later. “I would not be a traitor to the Body of Christ.” When they asked him to spy on other Christians and report back to police, he told them, “That’s not my job.”

On another occasion, Ahmed was caught and questioned by the police in Turkey for carrying in bags full of Christian literature. “If you don’t answer our questions and help us, we will lock you up for causing trouble for the Turkish government,” the police assured him.

“Jesus doesn’t tell us to cause trouble for governments,” Ahmed replied. “He wants us to witness about his love and forgiveness.”

Troublemakers. They are the children in class who cannot stop talking. They are the bullies in the school lunchroom who steal others’ lunch money. They are the gossips in the office maligning others and spreading rumors like disease. Christians are not called to be troublemakers. In fact, Jesus calls us to be peacemakers. This rule has one exception, however: We must be troublemakers to Satan and his schemes. We cannot afford to be overlooked by the devil as merely harmless for the kingdom. Prayer is our most effective weapon. How often do your prayers disrupt Satan’s work? Get busy today by praying in Jesus’ name against your adversary’s plans.